|
I took a class on film last semester and as part of our curriculum we watched "Alien." I had seen it before of course (what self-respecting geek hasn't), and something that came up during the class discussion was how well some of the special effects hold up even today. I have never been a fan of excessive CGI in film. I have always believed that whenever something can be done with things and people from the real world then it should be. However good CGI might look now, a few years down the road it will generally look dated.
Thinking about video games though, I'm not sure if the same kind of logic can apply. Game developers most often don't have the luxury of actors and props to make their games, and even when they do (the original Resident Evil for example), the instances where they are used well are relatively rare.. So they use what they have and make games look as good as they can. Many would argue (Wii fans especially) that graphics don't make a game anyways.
This said, graphics obviously do something, otherwise there wouldn't be such a focus on them much of the time. Developers wouldn't spend years fine-tuning a game's visuals if players would be just as happy with modern gameplay coupled with NES graphics. So one must beg the question, what makes a game look good and how does age affect a game?
And the asking is pretty much all that can be done, because if ever there was a subjective topic, here it is. Honestly, come heavily into play. There might be some consensus on certain things (many would agree that FFVII's visuals have aged horribly), but most of the time, the only thing anyone could realistically expect from asking this question is one of those long, annoying forum threads on Gamespot in which one side says the definition of good graphics is Gears of War, and the other side says "Nuh Uh! Uncharted looks better!"
For instance, when it comes to 3D graphics, I'm pretty easy to impress. I look at my old PlayStation games and still think the original Metal Gear Solid looks great in its own way. Final Fantasy VIII is the game that defines good use of FMV's for me. I hate cel-shading; it just doesn't do it for me, but I also think in a lot of ways the 2D graphics of yesteryear, especially the late SNES era, are absolutely timeless. Final Fantasy VII might look bad now but I don't think Final Fantasy VI ever will.
All the PlayStation 2 titles I thought were nice looking five years ago still look nice today as far as I'm concerned, and as I look at games like Gears of War and Uncharted I just don't see how anyone will ever be able to say they aren't gorgeous, in this era or any.
Perhaps I've been asking the wrong question. There were plenty of movies out there that used realistic looking props and were forgotten, just as there have been plenty of games out there with beautiful graphics that disappeared, never to be heard from again. Maybe the reason "Alien" is remembered so well, even today is for what it did with those special effects. The chest bursting scene is still memorable even today in a world where CGI has allowed even the most incredible spectacle to become common place. In the same way, no matter how poorly FFVII has aged, you'll find few who fault the drama of Aeris's death. Maybe all those Wii owners do have it right. Good graphics are nice, but in the end players buy video games to play, not to stare at.
|
RSS feed
iTunes